Chance the River
by PlantNerd92
Summary: Drabble Series! Oneshots of Romitri (because they are my favorite.) possibly others.


**A.N.: Hey gang! Just another little oneshot from yours truly to jar some creativity loose and confound this bout of Writer's block I have. It's not much. More like a Drabble type thing. I'll probably use this thread for drabbles and oneshots and whatnot. Also, I've had a few people ask me where I'm getting my Russian phrases. I don't get them from Google Translate. Google Translate sucks at translating. While it is a useful tool for creating fictional languages because of how terrible it is, it is not useful for trying to find actual phrases. So, I've taken it upon myself to actually learn Russian. I like to use , personally. It's like Rosetta Stone, but I have the app on my phone, and I got it free through my student account at my university library. Also, I'm starting school next Monday, so I'll be pretty busy, especially since I need to have the draft for one of my originals finished by October, and I'm in a bit of a time crunch on it. Forgive me. Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead. And this particular oneshot takes place in Blood Promise when Rose escapes Dimitri. Only she doesn't stake him. _Poka!_**

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I couldn't run anymore. I was exhausted, and my ankle screamed in protest from all the stress I had put on my injured ligaments. Dimitri had me cornered. I backed up against the rail of the bridge, my eyes wide and terrified as my lungs heaved for vital oxygen.

"You can't run anymore, _Roza_. Let me awaken you, now, and all will be forgiven," Dimitri purred, again, still trying to seduce me into becoming a Strigoi of my own free will. He took a step forward, and I lunged like a cat, crouching defensively and making myself look bigger all the same time. I hissed with wild eyes, nearly frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal.

"Stay back!" I yowled in warning, but Dimitri seemed to find my reaction rather funny, because he grinned at me, baring his fangs. A shudder rolled down my spine as the searing sting of withdrawal stung at my bruised neck.

"Stop this, _Roza_. You did your best, but there's nothing more you can do. You failed. You are mine, and I will awaken you, whether you like it or not. There is no point in resisting me any longer," he crooned, advancing on me. I stiffened.

"You're wrong," I said, reaching back and gripping the guardrail of the bridge in my hands tightly. Dimitri chuckled, a little confused, but then he froze the second I lifted myself up on my hands to crouch on top of the guardrail like a gargoyle, my feet securely on the rail, and the muscles in my legs tensed and ready to launch myself off of the bridge in a mighty leap and fall to my death in the swirling, dark River _Ob_ beneath me.

"Rose, stop! What are you doing?!" Dimitri said with a very human-like panic. I looked at him, and I could see his chalky face twisted in fear. If I jumped, I'd be dead the second I hit the water. I was weak, exhausted, and drained of blood. I wouldn't be able to survive the fall, let alone swim to safety. Even with his newfound speed and strength, if I jumped, I'd be dead by the time he managed to fish me out of the river, and he'd never get to turn me then. I was counting on that to be my salvation.

"I won't let you turn me. I'm sorry I couldn't set you free, Dimitri. I did the best I could, but I refuse to be like you," I said firmly.

"Rose, _please_ ," Dimitri begged. I hesitated yet again, because the inflection in his voice... It sounded like my Dimitri, the dhampir Dimitri.

"Why shouldn't I? Why do you want to awaken me?" I asked, silently begging, pleading for Dimitri to prove that he was still in there..

"Because I want you..." he said. I bit my lip. I could see the truth. My Dimitri was gone. This Dimitri wanted me like he wanted a possession, not because he loved me. My heart shattered.

"Wrong answer," I told him. Dimitri paused for a moment, but when he realized and charged forward, it was too late.

" _Rose!_ _No!_ " he cried as I sent myself careening off of the bridge, out of his reach, and then began the rapid descent of my free-fall backwards towards the river. I locked my eyes with his as he stared at me from over the rail, growing smaller and smaller as the distance between us grew.

" _I will always love you!_ " I screamed, closing my eyes and beginning to writhe and twist through the air.

I was weightless, and I wondered if I was already dying. I twisted around to face the water, instinctively keeping my legs stiff and straight and holding a deep breath in before I hit the water. I sliced through the churning current like a hot knife through butter, barely splashing even a drop. My feet hit the gravelly bed of the river, before the current swept them out from under me, dragging me further from the surface and down into the undertow. Stars and blackness clouded the edges of my vision, and I welcomed them. The water was freezing, but I was blissfully numb.

Just as I was about to succumb, brilliant gold light flashed behind my eyelids, and suddenly, I remembered. _Lissa..._

Lissa needed me. Lissa was in trouble. I couldn't die here. I was running out of oxygen. I scrambled and finally managed to dig my feet in the gravel enough to push myself upwards towards the surface before the water swept me away. With new-found strength, I erupted from the water, gasping for air, barely managing to float with my head above water as I let the river sweep me further away from Dimitri; from my doom. I swam with the current, staying away from the banks and eddies, just sticking with the main current and away from any snags. The water moved faster than I could ever run, and right now, that was working in my favor. If Dimitri caught me alive, I was worse than dead.

If Dimitri was trying to find me and pull me out of the river, dead or alive, he was running out of time. I could barely see the sun starting to rise up over the horizon. When the first sun rays kissed the landscape, I wept and cried from relief, and finally managed to swim to the bank and drag my exhausted body out of the water to collapse in the weeds along the bank to rest a few moments, before pulling myself to my feet and finding the nearest road and start walking.

I couldn't believe my luck when a farm truck came barreling down the backcountry highway. I jumped and waved to get the driver's attention.

"I _zvinitye! Izvinitye pozhalujsta!"_ I shouted, running up to the side of the truck when the driver pulled over. It was an old man and his wife, looking at me with nervous trepidation and concern.

" _Vui govoritye po-Angliyski?"_ I rasped, trying to catch my breath. The couple exchanged glances before looking at me.

" _Nyet. Mui nye govoruj po-Angliyski. Ya iz Amerikky?_ " The man asked. I gave a silent prayer that my limited knowledge of Russian wouldn't offend my only source of help as I continued brokenly.

" _Da. Pomogitye! Pozhalujsta! Mnye nuzhna... Omsk... Pozhalujsta..."_ I was pretty sure I just butchered that phrase, but I didn't have anymore time to think about it, because as soon as the words left my mouth, I collapsed, and faded into oblivion.

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 _This isn't my room... Where am I?_

The disorientation that comes with waking up in a new place was never pleasant. For a moment, I panicked, thinking that Dimitri had caught me again, and that I was waking up as a strigoi, but then I realized that the walls were too white, and the air too acrid to be in the mansion Dimitri held me captive in. I cracked my eyes open to find various tubes protruding from my body. An oxygen cannula looped over my nose, and IV hooked up to a blood bag and a few other bags, delivering blood, electrolytes, and saline to my deprived arteries. I was in a hospital. It took me a second to realize where, but if the Cyrillic writing on the dry-erase board and charts on the walls was any indicator, I was still in Russia.

My dhampir genes had kicked in and I was healing pretty quickly, but that didn't prevent the raging headache I had going on at the moment. I groaned softly, before reaching over for the phone on my bedside table, picking up the receiver and dialing a number I had to memorize.

" _Allo.'_

"Sydney? It's Rose. I need you to contact Abe Mazur for me... I'm stranded in a hospital somewhere in Russia..."

"Oh, Rose! What did you do now?" Sydney's cry of dismay crackled a bit through the speaker. I smiled ruefully.

"I'd tell you, but you really do not want to know."

"Fine. I'm searching your coordinates, and I'll let Abe know as soon as I find your location. Are you okay, Rose?" she asked, hesitantly.

"No, but that isn't important right now. Thanks, Sydney." I told her, before hanging up.

Now, all that was left to do was wait.


End file.
